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@livvyplaysfinalfantasy
First and last screenshots of Livvy Ahtynwyb Eynskyfwyn in Shadowbringers.
It’s been a year since I first posted this screenshot - a year since Shadowbringers released.
Livvy Plays Final Fantasy has always pivoted around the most transitional moments of my life. I first created this blog shortly after my eighteenth birthday over Panera wifi, while my family and I were living out of a camper. Some of my best content comes from the period after I dropped out of college and landed in an unfamiliar place to recover. When Stormblood/XIV 4.0 launched in summer 2017, I had just gotten my degree, and I was very much scraping by. 4.0 will forever stick with me not only because it resonates with who I am but because it was a lifeline at a time when things literally couldn’t get much worse.
Compare all of that to Shadowbringers. A year ago today, on June 28, 2019, I was in a steady, prestigious PR job that I hated; I had family visiting from across the country but was dreading the inevitable bickering; I was fully out as a lesbian but still couldn’t bring myself to join community Pride events that were happening just outside my window. I was very much settling for a life that no longer suited me.
I wouldn’t say that Shadowbringers made me think differently about these or any other aspects of my life - nor, unlike with Stormblood, did I even see parts of my life reflected or called into question through Shadowbringers. Instead, Shadowbringers presented a story about everything it means to be the Warrior of Light. What Shadowbringers gave me instead was an affirmation that some stories, some histories, some dreams are worth fighting for.
This reminder was especially meaningful as part of a story written by a woman. Natsuko Ishikawa, whose work has made up the very best of XIV’s narrative since 2.0, tells stories that in so many ways rely on compassion and understanding and love even when faced with impossible odds, and Shadowbringers/5.0 is no exception. I was part of the crowd that gave Ishikawa a standing ovation at PAX West 2019, and seeing her burst into tears at our reaction to her story might be one of the most meaningful things I’ve been a part of since I’ve started this blog.
It was that story - a woman-led story that chooses to intertwine love and courage at every step - that truly inspired me to work in the gaming industry. It took months of perseverance and dozens of rejections to make it happen, but I was motivated by a renewed passion for the kinds of stories that celebrate empathy. I was (and still am) determined to leave a similar impact on someone the way Ishikawa’s work has on me - to show someone else that sometimes all you need is the strength to take another step.
Today, I’m leaving to visit my family without a hint of worry for how it’ll go (coronavirus precautions notwithstanding). I’m exploring my gender (and okay, maybe Titania had something to do with that). I’m bringing my lived experiences to an upcoming video game that is going to mean so much to so many people (if you know, you know).
There will be many more games, many more memories, many more stories to share - and yet I cannot convey the depth of my gratitude for everything that Shadowbringers has inspired in me over the past year.
Stand tall, my friends.
CELEBRATE THE RISKBREAKERS’ SIXTH ANNIVERSARY WITH US!
That’s right: we’ve been fighting the Garleans for six years! And we want to celebrate with all of you:
ON MONDAY, MAY 25TH, FROM 5:00 PM TO 8:00 PM PACIFIC TIME, THE RISKBREAKERS WILL BE HOSTING OUR SIX-YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY!
To honor the friends and allies who have brought us this far, we’ll be opening the Sandsea’s basement sparring ring - AND we’ll renovate the upstairs lounge for an open mic night! Whether you’re looking to learn more about anti-imperial initiatives, hungry for a spar with one of Ala Mhigo’s liberators or just stopping by for some choice storytelling, the Riskbreakers welcome you as a sibling in arms. In true Ala Mhigan fashion, all are welcome!
Here are some guidelines to make sure everyone gets the most out of this event:
Use of the sparring ring will be first-come, first-served.
Ensure that both you and your sparring partner are familiar with your preferred combat mechanics (i.e. Grindstone rules, RISK house rules, etc.) before you begin your fight.
In the interest of time, a winner will be declared after two hits.
If you’d like to read a short story or a poem, please try to keep it under ten minutes in length.
We’re thrilled to have played this game alongside all of you for so long. From the bottom of all our hearts, thank you.
THE SANDSEA IS LOCATED AT:
Crystal Data Center > Balmung > Goblet > Ward 3 > Goblet West > Plot 5
This is tonight! Come celebrate six years with the Riskbreakers!
Join the Riskbreakers for some pre-Bozja Ivalice runs!
Hey friends! With the Bozja Citadel/Save the Queen quests dropping this Tuesday, the Riskbreakers are hosting clears of ALL Return to Ivalice dungeons - the Royal City of Rabanastre, Ridorana Lighthouse, and Orbonne Monastery - on SUNDAY, APRIL 5, at 9:00 PM ET / 6:00 PM PT on the Crystal data center!
If you’re interested in taking part, sign up here!
Do not forget where you are standing, Rosenheim.
You know those dreams where you wake up feeling like you’re falling?
I always had them, always. But they stopped for a while after you died. Instead I’d dream of you falling, and that there might still be a way I could catch you.
I return here every winter. I don’t want to think that maybe it isn’t the cultists calling you back - that maybe it’s my own need to put you to rest. Over and over and over.
Tranquil Moon: 🎵Ahtyn please open up, I only want your beer~🎵 Livvy Ahtynwyb: Shit shit shit. Uuuhhhhh… 🎵Ashe will kill me if I let you in heeere!🎵
I didn’t realize until after processing this video that ALPHA IS WATCHING YOU CONDUCT.
I bombed the performance to share the glorious mess that is the failed “Starlight de Chocobo” with you all, but now I feel bad to have disappointed my boy.
Livvy Ahtynwyb: Listen, all I’m saying is that “Oblivion” is the perfect Starlight carol: it’s about snow and Ishgard and not wanting to feel dead inside anymore. Plus it’s what we Limsans call “a banger.” Lucia the Radiant: Perhaps next year, Ahtyn. Livvy Ahtynwyb: Oh, come on!
Hot hot hot hot chocolate
HEY WE GOT IT
(x)
✨ Have a wonderful Starlight Celebration everyone ✨
This one was by far my favorite of the dreams - Y’shtola recalls a Starlight Celebration of her own, one she spent with her beloved tutor Matoya. What happens next will warm your heart.
Ashelia Riot: Most of us here know of the Autumn War - a brutal conflict that ravaged East End and pitted the whole of Aldenard against Ala Mhigo’s newly unified army. This tale begins on a night much like tonight, nigh a century ago - as the fight was nearing its most bitter, and the days were among the shortest of the year. Ashelia Riot: A small platoon of Adder troops and Ishgardian knights were dispatched to the front lines. Their mission was to intercept any Ala Mhigan activity, for the snows that night were brutal, and the enemy were more accustomed moving about in such bitter conditions - this was, remember, before the great freezing from the Calamity - and they were thought to be preparing an all-out attack against the civilians living on the borders of the Twelveswood. Ashelia Riot: After hours of creeping through the forest in the bone-numbing chill, the scouts came upon the Ala Mhigans. But they were not preparing for battle - far from it. They stood before a single pine tree in a clearing - a lone tree, of the sort that has long been revered as sacred in the barren Gyr Abanian highlands - and decorated it in observation of their own beliefs. Ashelia Riot: The Ala Mhigans cut strands from their own clothing to create a long, multicolored garland and draped it across the evergreen boughs. They removed what few pieces of jewelry they still possessed and hung those from branches. Before that tree, they removed their gauntlets and cesti and other warmaking devices - and they gathered the heavy snow around them to create Father Frost: a massive snowman that Ala Mhigans believe will keep their loved ones safe during Winter’s Knell. Ashelia Riot: The Gridanian forces watched as their enemies, shorn of their weapons and armor, used the last of their precious matches to light candles. They tied these candles to the tree with great reverence and joy, and placed the remainder around their Father Frost as though he were a saint… and then, in that silent moment, some misplaced Gridanian footfall snapped a twig. Ashelia Riot: The Ala Mhigans saw that they were surrounded, about to meet their deaths. Yet the Gridanians hesitated, for they had never imagined that Ala Mhigans, their mortal enemies, could create such a beautiful scene within the Twelveswood - that they could care about the land and what became of it. And the sight of the tree was so beautiful in the midst of their seemingly endless war that they could garner no will to fight. Ashelia Riot: And so they chose to break their bread with the very women and men they had been sent to kill. They laid down their own arms, shed their own armor, and built a campfire. Though few of them spoke the other’s languages, they communicated as people do: through song, and food and drink, and laughter. Ashelia Riot: Perhaps this tale can be thought of as an aberration - that it reflects more on the circumstances of one night. But it happened again the following year - and in the next, and the next, until the war was at last over. They lost plenty among their number in the battles in between, but each Starlight, they set aside their nationalities to mourn and hope and celebrate as friends rather than enemies. Ashelia Riot: I know that this story is true because two of the Gridanian soldiers who bore witness to this event were my maternal great-grandparents. Upon the last of their Starlight meetings, one of their Ala Mhigan friends invited them to return to his home, where they lived out the rest of their days in the Peaks as one family. I believe, then, that this same capacity for love is within all of us, whether or not we so choose to use it. Ashelia Riot: On behalf of myself and the Riskbreakers, and of Ser Rosaire and the Institute, we hope very much that you will take this day as a means to do good for your fellow man. And above all else, if you have nothing to give, know that a kind word alone may change a world.
